He Should Have Passed the Cigarette to the Girl

When cities and states began prohibiting smoking in cars carrying minors, I suggested we might see police stopping "a 17-year-old for speeding, then ticketing his 18-year-old friend for endangering the driver by smoking in the backseat" or (in jurisdictions with primary enforcement) pulling over "that long-haired 20-year-old with a NORML bumper sticker…if he's smoking in the presence of someone who might be a teenager." Here is a scenario I should have predicted but didn't:

The latest case of an Ontario driver nabbed by police for smoking in a car carrying a minor is raising eyebrows about the new law.

A 20-year-old Port Hope, Ont., man has been ticketed for smoking in a car in which a 15-year-old girl was one of his passengers.

While Tory Ashton was waiting for his $155 ticket, the girl—a smoker herself—got out of the car and legally lit up a cigarette of her own.

Although you have to be at least 19 to legally purchase cigarettes in Ontario, there's no minimum smoking age. But there is a minimum age to ride in a car with a smoker—unless that smoker is you.

[Thanks to Ultra Megatron for the tip.]